Sin And Virtue: What Role Does Religion Play In Life Essay, Research Paper
It is not surprising for an author?s background and surroundings to
profoundly affect his writing. Having come from a Methodist lineage and
living at a time when the church was still an influential facet in people?s
daily lives, Stephen Crane was deeply instilled with religious dogmas.
However, fear of retribution soon turned to cynicism and criticism of his
idealistic parents? God, “the wrathful Jehovah of the Old Testament”,
as he was confronted with the harsh realities of war as a
journalistic correspondent. Making extensive use of religious metaphors and
allusions in The Blue Hotel (1898), Crane thus explores the interlaced
themes of the sin and virtue.
Ironically, although “he disbelieved it and hated it,” Crane simply “could
not free himself from” the religious background that haunted his entire
life. His father, a well-respected reverend in New Jersey,
advocated Bible reading and preached “the right way.” Similarly, his
mother, who “lived in and for religion,” was influential in Methodist
church affairs as a speaker and a journalist in her crusade against the
vices of her sinful times . This emotional frenzy of revival
Methodism had a strong impact on young Stephen. Nonetheless, he — falling
short of his parents? expectations on moral principles and spiritual
outlook — chose to reject and defy all those abstract religious notions
and sought to probe instead into life?s realities.
Moreover, Crane?s genius as “an observer of psychological and social
reality” was refined after witnessing battle sights during the
late 19th century. What he saw was a stark contrast of the peacefulness and
morality preached in church and this thus led him to religious
rebelliousness. As a prisoner to his surroundings, man (a soldier) is
physically, emotionally, and psychologically challenged by nature?s
indifference to humankind. For instance, in the story, “what traps the
Swede is his fixed idea of his environment,” but in the end, it is the
environment itself — comprised of the Blue Hotel, Sculley, Johnnie, Cowboy
Bill, the Easterner, and the saloon gambler — that traps him.
To further illustrate how religion permeated into Crane?s writing, many
scenes from The Blue Hotel can be cited. Similar to the biblical Three Wise
Men, three individuals out of the East came traveling to
Palace Hotel at Fort Romper. The issue explored is the search for identity
and the desire of an outsider (the Swede) to define himself through
conflict with a society. Referring then to the martyr-like Swede, who is
convinced that everyone is against him, the Easterner says “… he thinks
he?s right in the middle of hell”. On the contrary, the Blue
Hotel can be seen as a church, with its proprietor Patrick Scully who looks
“curiously like an old priest” and who vows that “a guest under my roof has
sacred privileges”. Personification of a wrathful God is
portrayed when the guests are escorted through the portals of a room that
“seemed to be merely a proper temple for an enormous stove…humming with
god-like violence”. Additionally, alluding to baptism, the
guests then formed part of a “series of small ceremonies” by washing
themselves in the basins of water. To further prove the
innocence of his building, Scully points out the pictures of his little
girl on the wall. All in all, in contrast to the safe haven of
the hotel, the reality is that “hell” turns out to be the red-lighted town
saloon where the Swede is eventually murdered.
Another recurring topic in Crane?s writing is the responsibility for a
man?s death. For not acting upon his knowledge of Johnnie?s sin (his lying
and cheating at the card game), the Easterner is portrayed as a betrayer,
with guilt eating him inside. At the beginning, no one at the hotel would
discuss fear or death with the Swede. Thus, in repentance on his part, the
Easterner comments, “Every sin is the result of a collaboration”.
Indeed, in the end, the conspiracy of silence between the 5 men
involved in the murder leads to a brutal result: The Swede “losses fear and
gains death”. A rhetorical question is left then for the
reader to reflect upon, posed innocently by the Cowboy, “Well, I didn?t do
anythin?, did I?”.
In conclusion, it can be seen that — through the exploration of
responsibility, guilt, betrayal, and repentance — Stephen Crane develops
the theme that man is alone in a hostile society and nature. The virtuous
religious dogmas cannot always explain and help make sense of the cruel
realities that each of us faces. Thus, it is only through trusting “the God
of [one?s] inner thoughts” that one can hope to cope with and
survive in this brutal world.